Forbidden fruits
Before man (and woman) left paradise for ever a long time ago they had a snack which was forbidden, therefore they couldn’t resist. One reason why they picked the apple was of course because bad, bad, very bad snake sneaked in and naïve as they were, Adam and Eve took a small bite for man, but had a huge dinner for mankind. A meal that we are still digesting. (sorry, I just couldn’t resist twisting Amstrong’s phrase…the apple of course was our entry ticket to moon as it was the starting point for our knowledge based and curiosity driven society)
The trouble with forbidden fruits in general: They are there and they are fabulous. The nice thing about forbidden fruits: There is a lot to learn when eating them; you just have to make sure not to get caught. In perfumery, there are forbidden fruits, too. Smell them and you will be spoiled for the rest of your life. One of my own prohibited fruits being oak moss absolute. A wonderful scent, woody, soft, warm, complex, lasting, adaptable, bringing depth into any composition, a base ingredient for Chypres (together with bergamot, cistus), but…forbidden. Prohibited by IFRA, the international fragrance association, at least at a concentration where it would become interesting. Our grand father perfumers did not had this IFRA knowledge yet, they could use as much of it as they thought was needed!
Being a responsible perfumer, there is no way to cheat here; you just have to accept the facts: It is a perfect building block for perfumes, the limit of use is 0.1% in the final fragrance, and there is no replacement. But at least: A little bit you may use, which is like taking a bite from the apple without getting the rest of it.
# posted by andy : 11:23 PM
3 Comments:
Imagine paying the ultimate price of banishment from Eden for the taste of an...apple?
Chocolate, coffee, chocolate...maybe some chocolate.
But not an apple!
forgot the most important point of the comment - lost in a reverie of chocolate as i was!!!
I adore Oakmoss and oh to be allowed a little heavy handedness!!
I suppose this may be rather random, but I don't suppose you know anything about use of oakmoss in Fath de Fath? The original version, I mean, not the 1993 reformulation version. I'm cannot find any good reliable info on it, but my little amateur nose sniffs at it and wants to call part of the base oakmoss. Of course, I am saying this based soley upon the way the forests smell in the Pacific Northwest - moss and lichens grow on EVERYTHING here. It's on rocks, trees, the ground itself, etc. You walk through the forest and all the moss mixes into the smell of the air itself. Anyhow, I'm curious about that, if you happen to know!
I really feel bad for perfumers and consumers with some of the IFRA regulations. It's a real shame people aren't just allowed to choose for themselves if they wish to use and wear these things as they see fit. I think Luca has certainly stirred up a hornet's nest though with many perfume fans ;) It's nice that you can see a silver lining on the cloud, though. Half a loaf is better than none, as they say.
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